Joe Mitchell is too silly for words

Cycling infrastructure, like this Marion sidepath,
allow children to navigate their town safely

(10/26/2026) You probably heard that there's an election next week? Many U.S. Senate and state governor seats are up for voting, along with all U.S. House seats. For a variety of reasons that need not detain us here, Democrats smell blood in the water and are looking to make big gains, while Republican efforts to game the election (Marley and Binday 2026, ProPublica 2026) seem likely to fail. 

One of the U.S. House districts that has proven competitive is the 2nd district of Iowa, where I live. It is a rare example of a swing district, although Republicans have held the seat for ten of the last twelve years. Incumbent Representative Ashley Hinson is leaving the seat to run for the U.S. Senate, so it's also an open seat. Former (2019-2023) state representative Joe Mitchell is trying to hold the seat for the Republicans, with challenges from current (2019-2026) state representative Lindsay James, Libertarian Rick Stewart, and independent Dave Bushaw. At this writing, the district is rated a "toss-up" by the Cook Political Report.

Kickstand: Cycling to the bar, May 2023

Last week, Mitchell traveled to Sioux City to participate in a rally held by President Trump. This was a curious move, because (a) Sioux City is on the western border of Iowa, far from the 2nd district, and (b) President Trump is less unpopular in Iowa than the rest of the country, but still far from being an asset in a close race, so he is an odd choice to cuddle up to.

Once there, Mitchell used the short time he was allotted to (a) present Trump with a framed certificate proclaiming him Man of the Century, and to thank him for building a ballroom on the site of the ravaged White House, as well as cancelling U.S. Department of Transportation projects that included bicycling infrastructure. (That resulted from a series of decisions made in 2025 by Secretary Sean Duffy (Kuntzman 2025), on the grounds that it causes traffic congestion and encourages dangerous behavior by cyclists, despite evidence to the contrary that Duffy thoughtfully had removed from the DOT webpage (Wilson 2025).) Here's Mitchell in Sioux City:

Thank God you're building the ballroom. Thank God you're getting rid of those awful bike lanes. We don't ride bicycles in Iowa. We ride Harley-Davidsons. Isn't that true?

Ride the Districts 2024

Mitchell's statement is silly on its face, as has been pointed out in numerous places. Iowa is, after all, the annual host of the RAGBRAI summer bike ride from the Missouri to the Mississippi. The City of Cedar Rapids frequently touts its "Silver" rating from the League of American Bicyclists. 

As you've probably noticed, we at Holy Mountain are less concerned about annual rides than about daily rides. Trails are great, but if you have to drive your bike to the trail, we're not quite there yet. According to the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Surveys for both 2022 and 2024, a mere 0.1 percent of Cedar Rapids residents commute to work by bicycle. That includes 0.1 percent of men and 0.0 percent of women, and perhaps supports Mitchell's point, except that the answer is going to be better bicycle infrastructure, not getting rid of it.

Evidence for the efficacy of in-town bike lanes is everywhere. If more people cycled for routine trips, it would improve physical fitness, save energy resources and lower pollution, and put less stress on a city's physical infrastructure and therefore its finances. As the City of Cedar Rapids's annual Bike to Work Week proclamation proclaims in part: Increased bicycle use strengthens community connections, improves health and well-being, supports local businesses, attracts tourism, and contributes to vibrant, livable neighborhoods.

Bike to Lunch with the Mayor, May 2017

A recent Bike Talk podcast highlighted research by Hannah Younes and co-authors, finding that the presence of bike lanes--even the cheap one-stripe-of-paint kind--slowed turning traffic, particularly at top speeds. Cars were also more likely to make a full stop when turning right on red. In these narrowly-defined circumstances, bike lanes were making everyone safer (Younes et al. 2024). 

So, there's a lot to be said for bike lanes, albeit the Trumps and Duffys and Joe Mitchells of the world are determined not to hear any of it. But there's an arguably bigger problem with Mitchell's comments, defining as they do the characteristics of who does and who doesn't belong here. It's the same logic as Governor Reynolds's declaration that two of the most successful places in the state are "not the real Iowa," as well as President Trump's thuggish immigration policy. A state or country that defines itself by who it excludes is doomed. As a bicycle commuter, I see no reason why a Representative Joe Mitchell would represent me or anyone else who doesn't fit his crabbed definition of Iowan.

SEE ALSO: "Reflections on Bike to Work Week 2023," 22 May 2023